The Fling
by MoonOfYomi
Summary: Sesshomaru and Yomi were out for a midnight walk, when their conversation makes an unexpected turn. Was there a time when Yomi had been in love with a woman and be her, human? One shot. SesshomarXYomi, OC


Tales from Yomi

One Shot

**A/N:** This is a conversation between Sesshomaru and Yomi, one of the many. The concept is based off a dream I head involving Yomi where he had rescued a human girl from slavery. This was a very strange dream for me to have, because of my extreme anti-human-x-demon principles that I pretty much view as a rule, no exceptions. However, in the manga YYH Yomi shows tolerance towards Yusuke's human-demon heritage, which showed plainly he was not very prejudice, but just cold towards humans, heartless maybe. This dream was so profound that as soon as I woke up I turned on my computer and began to write.

I have written this as an excerpt from my main fan fiction Saharah, because it's a story that would only be mentioned in that work without any detail, which I thought would cheat the tale of any point. So not to distract from the main storyline I decided to write it separately as a one shot. There are parts and references throughout that I will still use in my main work, but for now I will let this stand as an example of what's to come.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho, and certainly do not profit from this at all. Characters belong to their respective owners, story is my own.

**Introduction**

Sesshomaru's powers have been sealed and his life was taken hostage by the gods. Forced on a course predestine by Heaven, he is put in a position where he is made completely vulnerable while Yomi is sought on his path. Finally the two of them meet under the most unlikely of circumstances. One thing leads to another and Yomi lends Sesshomaru his assistance. Sesshomaru accepts and the two become well acquainted. One night they stepped out to talk.

**The Fling**

On the shores of the demon's world before the Western Sea that separates the territory of the Demon Lord Mukuro from the Westernlands, Sesshomaru and Yomi, after having been acquainted by the gods, set out for a midnight walk. The night was dark and cloudy, and there was a dense fog rolling in from the sea. The turbulent waves of the Western Sea were barely visible even as they crashed loudly upon the crags, muffled slightly by the fog.

Sesshomaru was speaking, telling Yomi of his experiences at the time of his father's death. His voice was crisp and clear against the muffled ambiance of the dreary night. His form as white as a ghost over the nearly black stone of the craggy shores, "At the time, I didn't understand the full extent of what was happening," he began, "I understood only general things, that father had mated with another woman, a female no one approved of, and that they said she was human. This didn't register for me.

"How come?" asked Yomi, interested to hear more.

I believe because I was in denial over it. It wasn't something I could easily accept, considering how much respect I had for father and how much I looked up to him. I've pretty much modeled my entire life after him that for him to do such a thing was… ludicrous."

"So he was your role model?" Yomi asked.

"I suppose, yes," replied Sesshomaru, hesitantly.

"Well if you modeled yourself after him," Yomi went on, "Coming from the common class of demons myself, it's widely believed that Lords and other more powerful demons believe they have the authority and privilege to do whatever they want, simply because no one can challenge them. However in my experience I've discovered that it actually the opposite. It is true though, normally it's any demon's business who they choose to take as a mate, but for a lord like your father to mate a human, I can see the controversy. A lord is the icon of a nation the prime example for all demons under him, for such a being to mate a human what example he is setting for his subjects? Communion with humans is a dance with the devil. For what I saw it's like he was asking for trouble."

"Exactly, I could never understand why he would do such a thing?" Sesshomaru concurred, "The entire nation was in an uproar about it, it was ridiculous."

"I recall."

"Yes."

"Two hundred years ago I was attracted to your country after I hear about all the commotion that was going on there and managed to observe at least the tail end of it." Yomi added.

"Yes, you told me about that," Sesshomaru affirmed, "So you were witness to it as well. I got sent to Egypt for most of it. I believe it was mother's way of attempting to spare me the humiliation of father's descent so you probably saw more than I."

Yomi nodded, "Yes, I observed quite a bit, and from that observation I came aware that your father was protecting someone in the human world, a woman. After taking a closer look I discovered she was pregnant, but what I didn't know was that the child she was carrying was his. I just assumed she was a woman he had an affinity with, and was protecting her out of natural instinct… I wasn't aware of the full extent of the controversy. Where I come from there are demons that make it their life's ambition to look after humans, only they do it from the shadows. It's illegal in the eastern lands for demons to expose themselves openly to humans, but I know it's different here. I thought he was just being protective, because it was something he just couldn't help." Feeling Sesshomaru shoot him a harsh glare, and it made the corner of his lip turn up. Then said lowering his voice, "Well, you are dog demons after all; it only pays to reason that's a side of your nature."

Sesshomaru glared at Yomi, _our nature?_ He never liked it when people would make assumptions about his heritage simply because it is canine. Assuming the ways of the dog were his ways as well and taking offense to it, he kept walking. At length, he said, "and I suppose standing still and chewing grass is what you do," poking at Yomi's goat demon heritage. Hoping he would get the point. Yomi chuckled.

Realizing he had gotten a rise out of him, he withdrew, saying no more. Intending on remaining completely silent as his way to protest, only to discover that he didn't want to. Too often Sesshomaru would find himself unable stay mad at Yomi over the minor, often risky things he would say. Yomi's more accepting, and expressive nature had its way of softening his own. His laughter frequently wooing over any faint trace of aggravation or annoyance that would, and have, turned up. Holding off his temperament and keeping a steady mood. So it passed, "fine then," he came out with, after a minute breaking his silence, "you're not wrong, once an Inuyoukai is attached to something or someone we can be very protective."

"Ah," Yomi exclaimed victoriously, "so you can't deny it!"

"No." Sesshomaru grunted, hating to admit to things he would rather deny.

Yomi laughed. He got him and Sesshomaru knew it… _he just keeps winning_. Had the charisma between them been less than light hearted, Sesshomaru could have taken offence and withdrawn completely. Accusing his behavior as mockery, but he didn't. In this short time Sesshomaru had come to terms with certain aspects of Yomi, understanding that his occasional rudeness was rooted in affection, just as his was in violence spurred on by his great pride as a potential ruling demon, for Yomi, his way of showing it stemmed from the sentiment of memories from his more humble background, roughed up by the experiences of his criminal life. He was rough to be sure, but at the same time it bore some trace of charm that he couldn't ignore; no matter how much he tried.

The conversation paused, as they let the moment hang in the air. Quietly walking along and listening to the muffled sound of the waves coming upon the shore. To their footfalls on the mountain pass, when it was Yomi that broke the silence, "Well that's fine," he said, "It's hardly an instinct to be ashamed of. The instinct to protect, and to be loyal about it… Loyalty, now that's a good feature."

"True," said Sesshomaru, changing his tune after picking up on a sense of melancholy from Yomi. He glanced back at him. Always taken back by his impressive height, he looked to the serene expression on his face, wondering if he would say more.

When he didn't, he decided to continue with his story; "anyway as I was saying," he began, drawing Yomi's attention back to him, "for the majority of that year I was pretty much left in the dark. I didn't even know father was dying until the end."

"How did you find out?" Yomi asked.

"Mother informed me about it. Then had the nerve to try and tell me to spend more time with him before time ran out, which I thought was most hypercritical of her since she was the one that was so adamant about keeping me blind. Also, at the time I just didn't know how to talk to him. By the time I had returned from Egypt, his entire being had changed. Not only was his aura significantly weaker his entire countenance had changed and his face was hard. That's very different from what I remember. The demon I knew before was always calm and composed; he never let things get to him, or at least not to where he would let it show."

"Like the way you are," Yomi cut in, Sesshomaru looked at him. "Well there's no denying it, you do the same thing. You keep a constant expression on your face like a mask so it can conceal the emotions you are truly feeling on the inside." Then turned to Sesshomaru and grinned, "You know you can't fool a blind man, not when I can pick up on the messages from your muscle tension, your quickened pulse.

Sadly though," Yomi continued, "how well it works for most people, perhaps too well. You said your father was the same way?"

"To the most part yes. He never let his emotions show," Sesshomaru went on, annoyed at what Yomi had just described feeling perturbed over the fact of being with someone that could read the emotions just like that, and accurately guess at a person's vulnerable secrets… _Yomi you're a demon that could see though walls. Just what could I hide from him? What is the extent of his power… what are his limits?_

Putting it aside for now, Sesshomaru went on, "I couldn't believe the change I saw in him. It was mortifying."

"Mortifying how?" again Yomi cutting in.

"Pardon," Sesshomaru inquired.

"From what I recall he was doing his best with what he had left. You had already explained to me that he had signed a contract of mortality in order to be properly engaged with this soon to be human wife. And for that he lost his power and with it his grip on immortality. Foolish yes, though it makes me wonder why he would go to such lengths to secure the birth of a child he knew the world wouldn't accept, or at least he should have known. Personally I couldn't claim to understand it myself either, not to that extent anyway, however I do understand how easy it is to fall for a human."

Sesshomaru felt a shutter, caught completely off his guard, "Pardon," he queried. Not sure if he heard correctly.

Yomi turned his face now towards him, his expression unchanged. Sesshomaru hesitated, not quite sure how to address what he wanted to say, so he just repeated it back to him what he wanted him to explain. "You said you understood how easy it is to fall for a human, what exactly did you mean by that?"

Yomi understood. He was already well aware of Sesshomaru's detest of the human world, and was waiting for the opportunity to express his difference. "Well the truth is, I'm sort of guilty of the same thing." Sesshomaru starred at Yomi, eyeing his expression. It didn't change, he was serious.

"Explain." He said at length.

Yomi tittered, he knew, but best to come out with it now than to keep the memory to himself. Yomi liked to share; story time was one of his favorite past times, that next to scheming for power and playing the piano. It was now time for him to tell a tale of his own.

"I had a son once," he began, "and his mother was human."

Sesshomaru was stunned, though he felt more curious then shocked, "oh," he asked.

"Yes it was when I was young, before I met Kurama. I met her when I was just a kid shortly after I had escaped from my home village. Surviving an execution attempt on my life, I ended up wondering the desert for days with no food or water. Eventually I came upon a road where there was this caravan of demons. I didn't know who those demons were or what their trade was, because of my situation I headed straight for it. As it turned out the caravan was a mobile prison and the demons were slave contractor. Demons that would scour the lands in search for random demons to sell or trade in markets or to the many slave traders scattered throughout the lands.

When they saw me I was grabbed and just tossed right in. Not understanding the situation I went without any resistance, almost gratefully, grateful to have been found, nights alone in that wilderness was terrifying and the days miserable. I was still battered and covered head to toe in bruises from the hundreds of stones I was pelted with." Reflecting on the moment when he was sentenced to death by stoning. "I was just a young kid, only 12 years old. I don't think I was so desperate for assistance so much as for company, the feeling of safety in numbers.

Once they locked me inside, I felt safe. I thought I was, having no idea that I was actually better off suffering in isolation then there in that slave wagon, that was until she appeared. I didn't know who or what manner of being she was, there must have been maybe less than half a dozen others in the cage with me and they were all different she was just one of them.

I just remember looking up to see this girl peering over me and asking if I was alright. She had a dark complexion and large brown eyes, though her face was covered with dust and dirt and her cloth and hair were unkempt and matted like she spent her life living in squalor. I knew what it was like to live in poverty, but at least we made an effort to keep clean, she was filthy.

Nonetheless I stared upon her, with my feeble mind playing tricks on me I almost thought it was my mother, but at that point I think I lost consciousness and slept the rest of the way to the city. I awoke just as we were pulling into Jerusalem. It was my first time in a big city, but I was barely conscious to enjoy it. I kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I just remember my vision constantly going black and I was barely coherent, to tell the truth I thought I was dying.

I didn't of course; instead I awoke in a dungeon with my ankles chained to a stone wall. The chamber was dark, I couldn't tell where it was coming from but there was just enough light to faintly see the faces of those nearby. She was there beside me chained as well. I didn't understand the meaning of it, nor comprehend the concept of slavery. I didn't understand that I had been imprisoned. I needed rescue, which was the only reason I went towards that damn wagon only to end up in a dungeon.

None of it registered to me. Not until I got my bearings, but that didn't happen until she helped me. I recognized her as the girl that had spoken to me in the wagon. The first thing she did was offer me a cup of water, which I devoured gratefully. It was unbelievable how good that putrid water tasted and how it managed to revitalize my sense. After that one cup I was actually able to hold a reasonable conversation. She told me she was human. Fortunately we spoke the same language, Aramaic.

Aramaic being the common language of the time; at least for us it was, for the humans it was being over taken by Arabic. Still she spoke it. Hers was a dialect I wasn't too familiar with since she was from a different world. Still I understood her well enough.

She asked me who I was, and I answered her. She smiled and said her name was Shari, it means "the plains," just a common name, but I liked it. She explained to me that she was sold into slavery by her uncle and his wife after her parents disappeared, because they couldn't afford to properly care for her and somehow she ended up on the inter-dimensional trade market. She was actually on rout of being transported to the demon that had purchased her through a brochure.

I think there was a problem though, since her transfer was taking longer than it should have. I have no idea what the problem was, but it allowed just enough time for us to become well aquatinted. I think there must have been about a hundred prisoners crammed in maybe four prison cells with maybe a dozen humans scattered amongst them, the rest were all demons. The contractors were not even professional enough to separate them, putting the humans at severe risk of falling victim to any of the hungry demons in there, and there were quite a few that were hostile. If I were older I probably would have been one of them, not exactly good for business. Considering some demon are willing to pay a high price for a good looking human even if just to keep it as a pet, which I believe was destine to become her fate. Not that I knew any of this at the time.

She was cute; her eyes were what worked for her. Where everything else was covered in grim and dust her eyes remained perfectly clear. She was a good girl, clever, and generous enough, despite her of blight, to take the time to help an injured demon boy. A demon that would grow up to become a designated human hunter regardless, somehow I don't think it would have mattered to her even then if somehow she could have known. Her family sold her, only to end up the property of a demon to live her life as a slave.

She probably would have been better off just killed and shipped off as meat. Better to die and have your soul move on than to be tortured for life and waste away. Souls don't move on very well after a life like that. Most just become ghosts that fade away with time, which I think is the cruelest fate of all.

Human hunting wasn't a big deal to her. To her it was more merciful than things she had seen and what she was experiencing, and had to look forward to."

"You weren't hunting humans yet?"

"No, I didn't know I had to. I didn't meet the demon that taught me how until after wards, when I escaped."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes, so she wasn't food." Yomi snickered. "I'm not a woman hunter anyway, I prefer males. I'm a man hunter not a woman hunter. Women I leave alone, always have. And thinking back maybe she was the reason. Anyway, we talked, told each other stories. Of course she spoke more than I did. I wasn't, yet much of a socialite. I didn't have much opportunity to build up on my knowledge of speech. The demons in my home village didn't speak much and when they did it was always hushed up, so I believe I felt impaired and uncomfortable with trying. Even when she asked about my bruises I couldn't bring myself to explain them to her. I just clammed up; I mispronounced too many words, but also the shock of the stoning was still too fresh in my mind, so just for that I couldn't bring myself to speak about it. She spoke though. I can't remember everything we spoke about, but I just remembered feeling like she was my best friend. I never had an actual friend before so it was a new experience one that I savored and enjoyed. I was never one for a solitary existence.

Being alone makes me miserable.

So I was glad she was there. I felt miserable though. I felt like I had changed positions with my brother Ishmar, who was always frail and sick. Unusually I was the lively one always going out to hunt, bringing home food, snakes and lizards or whatever kind of insects I could find for him. It was strange finding myself the frail one and this girl the vital assistant. My entire world was completely reversed, but I didn't mind. I hadn't any reason to be bent up on pride that to be weak and cared for by a human wasn't something to be embarrassed about. To be perfectly honest at the time I really didn't know what the difference between humans and demons was. I knew she was from another world, a place my family always said we were not to commune with, but would say little of the reasons why.

To me she was just a girl, another person that spoke to me, gave me water and kept me company. She was the only one that did. While everyone else was weeping and feeling sorry for themselves, or too busy telling her that she shouldn't be talking to me, she ignored them and never left my side. That is until she got called out.

It seemed the contractors, managed to get their paperwork organized and she was taken away to be cleaned up so they could complete the transfer and deliver her to her hands of her new owner. Apparently the demon that purchased her lived in Jerusalem where slavery was illegal, go figure."

"Hm, so it was a black market operation." Sesshomaru commented.

"Yes, and it just goes to show how such armature operations work, unreal. Anyway, when they took her only then did it strike me about the situation, and I actually began to feel afraid. I didn't know where they took her, or what they were going to do to her, but I knew I didn't want the same to happen to me, whatever it was. So I began to look for a way out.

There wasn't one, at least not until hours later and they brought her back. And I have to tell you, I didn't recognize her. I was speaking with her just hours before, but when she was returned it was like she was a different person. Some new young girl that came into the prison, I was actually taken back when she came up and spoke to me. I wanted to say "who are you?" when I saw her eyes, and realized it was her.

She was beautiful the faculty operating the place cleaned her up. Fitted her in a nice dress, washed and brushed her hair. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. Though I think she was only about maybe 13 years old, just beginning to bloom and still had her girlhood features. To me, a prepubescent male child she was anything thing I would have wanted to see in a female.

At least from what I can say about it these days, back then she was just a pretty picture. She kept talking, trying to tell me something, but I wasn't listening. I was entranced, and it seemed so was everyone else. Goes to show just how careless the contractors were, putting a pretty girl down in a dungeon full of demons. An attractive human, already bought and paid for. I'm fairly certain if it wasn't for those chains she would have been attacked the moment the guards shut the prison door."

Yomi shook his head as he walked. His hands still wedged firmly in the pockets of his long robe. Sesshomaru listened intently; his story was much like the time he met Rin, only different. Nonetheless it was like a new fascination, borderline on the absurd. Interested enough to hear more, "So what happened," he asked, "did they take her to her owner?"

"Yes they did. Shortly afterwards, men from the house that bought her arrived to retrieve her. When they arrived even they complained of the accommodations we were in. It seemed her new owner was a demon of some class that his messengers would complain about the living conditions of a dungeon.

However, stranger still once they arrived they demanded on seeing me as well. I didn't understand it at the time but somehow she had managed to convince the demons that came to retrieve her to have a look at me. Apparently she spoke for me. They looked, but didn't seem to like what they saw, and I couldn't blame them I was just a shaggy demon that was nothing, but skin and bones. Still I heard her say, "he's strong it doesn't take much to heal him, he just needs water." I remember thinking, "really," though I was too confused to be flattered, or to know rather or not that was even right, failing to catch on to what was actually happening. She just nodded at me to go along with it so I did.

"Is that true?" the guard asked me. I just nodded, going alone with it.

"He'll make a fine guard. He just needs to be trained." She said.

Now I had no idea what was going on, but I got the idea that this girl I have been communing with was no ordinary slave. For one thing the guards were actually listening to her and for another she was actually managing to convince them to take an interest in me so they would take me as well.

When they agreed she smiled, but what gets me now, is that she wasn't in chains or being forced, but more like she was actually in charge."

"Was she a witch?" Sesshomaru asked.

Yomi shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. It could have been a spell, but in that case if she had that kind of power why would she allow herself to be captured and chained in a dungeon, or why didn't she try to escape?"

"True."

"She didn't fight in any way; it was more like she knew she didn't need to. I wonder now if she was really a slave at all, but maybe the daughter of someone important that was being concealed."

"In the demon's world," Sesshomaru wondered, feeling doubtful, "surely the humans could have hidden the girl themselves."

"Maybe it was demons that were trying to conceal her? Maybe she was of a tribe that had a pact, or an affinity like your father did with that human princess."

"Hm, maybe," Sesshomaru recoiled.

"That would grant a woman power, even one as young as her. Anyway she convinced them to take me along. But as we were walking she told me her plan, and as she did she told me the reason why she chose me to be her companion. She said that she was looking for a strong demon that she could trust to protect her during the journey. What journey she didn't say, but she also said that it wasn't a demand, that I could chose to stay and help her or flee and she would help me to escape when the time came."

"So which did you choose?"

"I chose to escape. I had no desire to stay and help anyone. I was a survivor not a protector and I couldn't understand what help she needed from me seeing as she had everything, so oddly, under control. I wanted freedom and when she offered to help me seize it I jumped at the chance.

The next thing I knew I was following her through the slave quarters of the residence where we were sent to. She weaved through the place like she knew it and told me just what to do. I listened and went. As soon as I was in the clear I ran. As I ran, her words ran through my mind, the last words she spoke to me, "once you go, keep running don't stop and don't come back or you'll get caught. They didn't have to pay for you so they wouldn't care if you run now, but cost them money and they will."

"Sounds like a smart girl." Sesshomaru commented.

"She was." Yomi nodded.

"So she let you go, she didn't try to convince you to stay as her guard?"

"No she didn't, she just mentioned it as an option. I'm convinced she just did it to help me escape. She wasn't manipulative, surprisingly, or she would have probably succeeded in convincing me to stay against my better judgment like she did with those guards."

"So was that it?" Sesshomaru inquired.

"It was the last I saw of her at the time, but not the last I would see of her," Yomi replied. "I would learn more about her later on," a deviant spell came over him in that moment and he turned and grinned, "yes the story continues."

Yomi expected Sesshomaru to show disinterest; on the contrary Sesshomaru was looking straight at him. His eyes weren't the narrow darkened slits, the usual indifferent and cold way he would look at people; instead they were wide and bright. He could almost feel the light beaming off them hitting him on the side of his face. He could hear the tension in the tiny muscles pulling back his eyelids, which was not a sound he often heard from him. His eyes were curious, eyes that said plenty to him.

Sensing all of this at once, "I don't suppose this type of story is of any interest to you?" He asked just to be sure, but Sesshomaru's answer was just as he had perceived, "actually I am interested," he said straight out. Recalling the conversation he had with Lady Pearl a month back, his ancestor from heaven who showed him a future he will never know. Reflecting over the many times he observed himself express disinterest, for example the time Kagura when she came to him for help, what he said to her, '_I have no interest in your life's story_.' But it was different now. "It would help me to understand a situation like that better to hear from a first-hand account. I could never understand my father for the decisions he made, because I could never understand his reasons. Maybe your story could help clarify few things."

"I'm glad you're willing to be open-minded about this."

"I wouldn't say I'm being open-minded, because I do have the undying urge to want to punch you in the face, but as I said, it could be useful."

Yomi laughed, and said out in good humor and a teethy grin, "Well don't let my good looks stop you! Go ahead attack when ready; I'm sure I can take it!"

Sesshomaru grimaced, "no, I think I'll wait." He said.

"Well you just keep that thought; I will want a good fight out of you one day. So don't end up going soft on my account."

Now it was Sesshomaru's turn to laugh. "Yomi, I doubt it'll be an issue. Defeating you could very well be just the thing I need to win over my own throne."

"Ah yes, you see… I'm here for you." Yomi mused.

They laughed, as the amusement died down Yomi continued with his story. "As I was saying, as soon as I got the chance I ran. I didn't bother to look back until it no longer mattered. She and the house were no longer in sight. The place where she and I had been brought was a large mansion just on the edge of the city where there was nothing but open land and forest beyond a tailored garden. So once I got through that I darted over the open land till I needed to catch my breath. By then, it was long out of sight.

There was nothing, but a trail of dust behind me. Once again I found myself completely alone in the wilderness. I wasn't happy about it. I was confused about what I should do, but I distinctively remember her words, "if you run don't come back."

I hesitated, wondering if those words were what were best for me, or if I was making a mistake. It was the middle of the night, but not too cold. The moon was out, the stars were bright, and there was a gentle breeze. So I started to wonder around. I was entranced by the stars. You know, that pool of stars that gathers like a cloud across the sky."

"The Heaven's Bridge," Sesshomaru assumed, speaking of the Milky Way,

"Yes, anyway, her words kept repeating over and over in my mind. I toiled over what to do when I hear the voices of men shouting from the distance, so I ran.

It was all I needed. I ran in the opposite direction which led me deeper out onto the land till I was completely lost, swallowed right up like shadow in the dark. The night closed in around me and soon the only thing I knew was the call and sounds of the wilderness. Before I knew it I was crying.

I didn't want to be out there.

The only thing I really wanted to do was go home, but that was impossible. And having fled from the side of the only friend I knew just redoubled the lonesomeness of the situation. Still I kept going. No food. No water. Nothing I was wondering on empty. The days were the worst. It was the sun that got me.

One day I couldn't take any more and collapsed in the sand. That should have been it for me. This part of the story I believe I already told you." Yomi paused, to point this out rather than to repeat the same tale he had just told not long before.

"I recall," Sesshomaru affirmed, "A demon found you and taught you how to hunt humans."

"Yes, well that unfolded. He taught me well. Well enough that after he left I had no problem surviving on my own. I had focus and something to keep my mind occupied.

Hunting humans was a life saver for me in more ways than one. First I was banished and rejected by my family only to be saved by a human, which I then abandoned only to be rescued by a demon that helped me maybe in more ways than she did. Then he left, leaving me on my own to be sustained by taking in the life of humans. It was an interesting pattern my life was taking on."

"Quite diverse," Sesshomaru commented.

"It was," Yomi agreed, "Because I was grateful to her I bore no antipathy of humans. What I saw in them was actually life sustaining. And the better off they were the better off I was. Better said, when the humans were happy and healthy then so was I. So it never made any sense for me to hate them, only I had the eye of a predator. I watched them like a hawk. I was a nightly terror. That thing that went bump in the night that was the reason people in certain areas kept disappearing never to be seen or heard from again, so least to say I was hardly an ally.

I protected the cities and towns where I hunted, but it was only to secure my prey. I was in no way a friend to humanity. There's no telling how many men and young boys I killed, and how many people ended up crying over that. I just turned a deaf ear to it and carried on.

The years passed and with my good health I grew very quick that by the time I was twenty I was fully grown and strong enough to take on a small army of humans. Just average humans not highly trained warriors. I stayed away from those to the most part until my strength improved, then I would begin the long quest of taking on only the stronger mortals I could fish out. I believed the stronger the human the more strength I could gain by conquering and consuming them, and I was right. Soon humans were no match for me. I picked and chose what I wanted from where I wanted and that what it.

But that all came later, I wasn't yet taking on warriors of any kind when upon my wonderings I found myself back on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Figuring the big city would be a good place to pick out some decent prey, when I remembered the house I had escaped from those years back. Suddenly I remembered her and wondered if she was still there, living like a slave the way I left her.

I even recalled her name, Shari.

As soon as I recalled her name the image of the moment she got thrown back into the prison after she was all cleaned up came back to me. It made me curious to know what became of her, was she still there? Was she still alive? Realizing that I was actually concerned about it I walked along the outside of the city searching for the mansion I escaped from until I eventually found it. But what I found was a ruined mess.

The house had been completely burned down, its limestone walls torn down. It looked like the aftermath of a battle had taken place, but only the mansion was affected. I began asking around, seeking for answers anything that could tell me what happened. Eventually I found a demon that knew, and informed me that the mansion had come under siege about a year before. It seems the lord of the manner had a few enemies and somehow managed to piss one of them off so they attacked. I can't remember what clan it was that attacked, but their assault was relentless. I was told that most of the residence of the place was killed.

Fearing the worse I kept looking till I heard about a shelter another demon told me about where the human survivors would have gone. The shelter was just outside the city in an area I had covered during my search for the mansion only I didn't see it because it was on the human's world side, which I didn't check. I just assumed she was still in the demons world. Either way it didn't matter. I went and sure enough she was there.

She was one of about twenty people that survived the assault, and had been seeking shelter in this camp like place where tents were set up over open land, completely vulnerable to anything for the last year. When I saw the place I immediately thought to myself, "wow this is an easy target." Anyone could have just walked up taken what they wanted and strolled away without any trouble, and so that's exactly what I did."

"I found her in the work place. She was scrubbing some old rags in a barrel of water when I came walking up, a demon from out of the wilderness. The women around her all screamed and cried, "Jinni" _monster… demon,_ which is exactly what I was, and began running about frantically. Afraid I would attack at any moment, the only one that didn't react was her. Instead she stood up, and when she spoke I heard, "Omiah, Is that you?"

I was shocked. I couldn't believe she remembered my name. I hadn't spoken it to anyone since or again till I met you," he paused for a moment, to emphasis further on the fact, that indeed, he hadn't spoken his real name to anyone until the day he met Sesshomaru, and then continued.

"Why did you come back?" she asked me, as if the moment when I last saw her hadn't changed, like it was lingering in stasis, stuck at that moment. Suddenly it was as if I was that little boy again. No time had passed. I had no life other than that moment and I never left. Only she was different, she had grown, no longer the young thirteen something, but a grown woman. She was tall; her coal dark hair had grown down past her waist, dressed in queer garb and her body was in full bloom. Thin, but not too thin, nice breasts.

Least to say I was taken aback by it. That image would overtake the dark, dungy image I had of her from that dungeon. I was suddenly a young man facing a woman that stared back at me with no fear, and she was beautiful. Not drop dead gorgeous, but enough for me. She had nice skin too. It was that coco color, brownish, but not dark, a color that I liked. I like rich pigment."

Sesshomaru stared at him then suddenly turned away.

"Um… in humans!" Yomi stammered, then coughed, conscious of Sesshomaru's pale face and snowy white hair beaming now in the other direction. He felt the skin on his face flush, had he said too much? To explain he said, "I like dark skin on humans, and white on demons… just to clarify that."

"It shouldn't matter what color a human's skin is." Sesshomaru muttered, but said no more leaving the meaning of his words entirely open to interpretation.

"It doesn't. Really, I don't have a fetish… not for humans anyway." Poking Sesshomaru in the shoulder and seeing that he was annoyed by it let out a rather boisterous laugh. The touch caused his companion to react. Rubbing the spot where Yomi's finger made contact, and step somewhat to the aside, because it actually hurt, "Don't do that," Sesshomaru protested. Not exactly accustomed to stepping down from the physical contact of a stronger demon, but because of his 'condition' his body had become considerably weak, that even the slightest bump would cause a bruise to appear.

"Like any of that should matter to a blind man." He added, now somewhat aggravated.

"Oh I apologize for that. I forget without your demon energy your body can't hold up to demonic strength at all."

"Yes, well hopefully it won't last too much longer."

"Well as long as you give the heavens what they want, they'll lift the spell they have on you, you'll get your power back and then could be on your way to becoming a stronger demon, maybe you'll even transform."

"Maybe. Were you going to continue," said Sesshomaru, quick to change the subject.

"I wasn't always blind you know."

"I don't care."

Several minutes later, Yomi continued. "Regardless at the time I thought she was beautiful. I hadn't seen too many beautiful women in my life so it left an impression.

For the longest moment it seemed she just stared back at me, and I couldn't move I was stunned. After a while I began to feel a little stupid. I went there out of a whim. I had no plan. I just wanted to see her. I didn't even go to see if she was alright. I just wanted to know if she was still alive. I had no intent that went beyond that. I was just curious, however once I saw her that changed.

I didn't know what to do next, but something definitely came over me. I the next thing I knew men from the shelter began to gather around armed with their crude weapons. Some of them were shouting and waving their weapons at me, but because they weren't a threat I didn't care.

The women gathered behind them or ran into their tents. As you could imagine, a demon enters a populated area and they scatter like mice. Of course she was aware of this, and took her eyes off me only to look back at them, but it was to the men that she spoke.

"Don't approach him," she said to them, "I'll handle this!"

"You a witch," they asked her.

"No, but I know this demon. He isn't here to hurt anybody." She said.

One of the men stepped forward, "How do you know that," he shouted, "did you summon him witch?" his tone caught my ear. Humans didn't like witches, and that's all I knew. He was hostile so I reacted, all I heard was Shari calling out, "Omiah don't!" It's the only thing that stopped me from taking that man by the throat and sending him to the next world. He flinched; my eyes were dead on him.

The next thing I knew she had rushed up to me. "Don't! You shouldn't have come here like this." She said to me. She took hold of my arm, and said, "Come." And began to tug at me, I got the message she wanted me to follower her, so like before, I did. She led me out of the encampment and to a place where we would be out of sight.

Several men followed us, but I shot them a sharp glance to insure they knew to stay back. They slowed, but didn't stop. "Omiah show them how strong you are." She said and I looked at her.

"Do it, but don't hurt them." She put her hand on my chest, and just stared up at me. I could feel the warmth from her human vitality. "If you show them, they should back off. These men aren't warriors. You should be able to easily frighten them."

Her words were easy enough to understand, frightening humans was something I could do. Without hurting them though was a new concept to me. It took me a moment, but then I thought if I treated them like women there should be no problem. Though women usually run from me, if there was ever a woman in my way I would simply move her aside or go around. I avoided touching them.

Be mindful, this was the old days. If people who know me now would hear me say this they'd laugh. It seems I was a much gentler being when I was young, more considerate, of course it didn't last. Once I got over that sympathy thing I became a regular killer. I would still avoid women, but so long as they didn't try fighting me. Then that would be different story.

Anyway, it was Shari, and I didn't want to scare her, so I turned around and went up to the men and took their weapons, yanking them out of their hands and flung them over my shoulder. Then I took the largest among them a well built, burly man and without a word lifted him over my shoulder, and carried him back to the shelter. He kicked and flailed, screaming all kinds of obscenities, not that it fazed me. Once I stepped back inside. I threw the man to the ground. He fell flat on his back knocking the wind out of him. Then I said to him in a threatening way, "don't follow human, I'll only warn you once."

The man was stunned. He lay on his back staring up at me for the longest time. The other men came running and barged in around me. I ignored them and when I turned to leave stepped through them. To them it must have felt like a breeze. I know I left them reacting, it's not every day a demon rushes through a human's body; I was hoping it would be enough to frighten them. Like I've said, if I were on my own I would have killed them, but since it wasn't appropriate, or necessary I stepped aside and returned to Shari.

The stunt worked, she and I were left alone long enough to talk.

"I won't be able to go back to that place because of this you know." She said her expression still content.

"Why not," I asked.

She laughed, "Because I'll be viewed as a witch. You know what that is?"

At the time I vaguely understood what a witch was. I just knew they were people that casted spells and used magic.

"What would happen if you went back," I asked.

"Don't know," she said, "I could get stoned."

_Stoned_, the thought made me wince, though I blocked it out.

"Why?" I hastened.

"Because people fear witches, almost as much as they fear demons." She said as she stood up and began to walk; keeping to the outer perimeter of the little area we were in to remain private. "Demons hurt people, or they'll possess people causing strange things to happen, always with the intent to do harm. That's what people believe. They also believe that a witch can control demons. You see, because you listened to me, that automatically makes me a witch in their eyes."

She wasn't wrong, the only thing I didn't understand about any of that was the possession part. I had yet to meet a demon that did such a thing to know anything about it, so I just asked. "Possess?"

She smiled and laughed at me, "You're a demon and you don't know what that means?

I didn't answer. Her tone was mocking, though not in a harsh way. I just assumed she wasn't prepared for how unknowing and ignorant I was, and she thought it was cute. "It's when a demon, maybe even one like yourself," she said as she came right up to me, and again placing a hand on my chest, "enters a human's body and takes command over it. Sometimes the human soul inside doesn't have the strength to fight it and that causes an awful sight." She began to walk around me keeping her hand placed firmly against my skin, moving over my arm, my side and then around my back. "Often the human is hurt or dies."

Enter inside a human's body, I never heard of such a thing. At the time I didn't know there were demons that existed without flesh, and those were the kind that possessed people. I didn't know if she knew the difference or if she was just toying with me, I didn't protest. I liked the feeling when she touched me. I was paying more attention to that than to her actual words.

"That isn't me," I said.

"Have you killed anyone?" she asked.

"Who do you mean?" I asked and she laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes," surprisingly enough she said this in good humor, then stepped away with spunk suddenly arising in her movements, "let me guess mortal or beast?"

Both, I wanted to say, but then I didn't want to frighten her. Somehow I don't think thing that was possible. It was doubtful any honest answer would have upset her. I didn't answer.

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter. I don't peg you as a beast, though I can certainly see you are capable of it. I'm glad you didn't hurt that man. I'm sure he had a hard time getting back up after dropping him. You could have done worse.

I saw it when we first met, that you weren't a monster. That's why I trusted you. It's too bad you didn't stay, we could have had fun."

Kind of make me wonder what kind of fun? Anyways, "How's that," I pondered, just feeling confused.

"It didn't take you very long to reach mature form. When I first saw you, you were just a boy, and so was I only a girl. I didn't know demons grew like humans do. Then again I can't say I know too much about them." She went on.

"Seirim takes only 20 years to reach full form." I answered.

"A Seirim, is that what you are?" she repeated, and then added, "Strange you don't look like a Seirim."

This put me off, I didn't know what she knew about Seirim, but I certainly didn't feel much different than my relatives even as a Ben'jinn. I was always told I was normal, so I just didn't know what she meant by that. "What," I asked, "What do you mean?" I wanted her to explain herself, though I didn't know the words to express my offense.

She answered, "Well don't Seirim have long beards? And I heard they have hair that grows out of their skin like on their heads. The hairy ones, they are called."

She wasn't wrong and I knew what she was talking about. Her description reminded me so much of my grandfather that I wanted to cringe and change the subject. I hated the way my grandfather looked; to me it was like he was an old hairy mess. Only young Seirim were known to be good looking, but once were older the hair starts coming in.

I've already begun to shave myself." Yomi went on, rubbing his fingers over the flesh of his jaw showing where he had noticed the hairs of a would-be beard begin to appear that he had shaved away.

"By the looks of you know one would know you shave." Sesshomaru commented.

"Well I use special ointments to prevent it from coming in. It lasts a while, a few weeks or so. I have to keep applying it or a shadow will appear. I've always liked clear faces, so that's the way I like to keep mine.

"You are young though," Shari went on. I think she was teasing me. She kept gazing at me with those large brown eyes. "So it might have yet to come in. Don't get mad, I'm just playing with you," she mused. Then took my arm, "come let's go, I'll go with you."

This confused me at first. I didn't know what she meant by _lets_. Then she explained it. She couldn't go back to the shelter that it would have been a death sentence for her so we left. I walked and she followed. I led her back into the demons world where it was more familiar, and that began a period companionship I wouldn't forget.

She was a handful I could tell you that. Humans truly are a demanding race, always in need of something."

"Tell me about it." Sesshomaru cut in, able to agree full-heartedly.

"Oh," Yomi inquired, "know something about it?"

"Sesshomaru answered, "Yes actually, recently I've come under the company of a human, a young girl named Rin."

"A woman," Yomi asked sounding surprised.

"No, just a girl, I believe she's about seven."

"Oh, how did that come about?"

Sesshomaru explained the circumstances and how he met Rin, and how she followed him. Yomi pleasured in hearing this, it was one of those things he didn't know about. "Well that sounds like a quite change for you, taking care of a human girl."

"Not really," Sesshomaru argued, "She basically takes care of herself, only she's required to sleep often and because of her our traveling has been slow. I was searching for a place for her to live; a village maybe where the humans weren't so hostile towards people that have relationships with demons. She witnessed her whole family being killed by mortal bandits so she was in greater fear of humans than us."

Yomi grunted, "Seems she's under the wrong impression."

"She is, but I believe she'll grow wiser as she gets older."

"Maybe, has she seen you kill anyone? Does she know your views?"

"No, and I've only killed the demons that get in our way."

"In her defense?"

"Yes, on occasion."

"That would definitely leave the wrong impression. Where is she now?"

"In the human world, I left her at a village where my half brother holds communion. The humans there are more aware of demons than in most, but also understand that not all are hostile. There are two other small demons that stay there as well. So she's fine there, the only thing is I think the humans… some of the humans there might be a little too friendly towards our kind. I don't like the thought of the influence that could have on her."

Yomi chuckled. "Like Shari?"

"More like an undisciplined witch who tends to unwittingly seduce demons to her will and so they'll fall in love with her."

"Like Shari."

"No not like her, this girl doesn't seem to do it on purpose. I think she's just an idiot."

"Oh, someone you know?"

"Someone my brother knows."

"Oh."

"Moving on?"

"Alright."

Yomi continued, "Shari was a person that knew just how to get under a person's skin. She was an interesting person. As we walked she told me about what happened at the mansion, and how she fared after I ran off. Her story was very enlightening, it taught me quite a bit about her motivations and the way her mind worked. I said she wasn't manipulative when she was younger, well that was me just being ignorant. She wasn't just manipulative she was a master at it."

"Typical for women," Sesshomaru added.

"Some are better at it than others, especially if they're attractive." Yomi added.

"True."

"She told me she had been placed in a harem, where she learned the art of dancing. She took to it and after that she set off to make it her career as a dancer. She became a dancer for the courts, both solo and lead. She showed me. One night when we stopped and set up camp got a small fire going she danced for me. She tied up her blouse; knotting it just below her breasts and knotted her skirt up to her hip so one leg would show. Then she pulled out these little bells from her purse she had attached to her skirt, shook them. Then with the jingle began to move.

Slow at first, but then she picked it up and began to spin around and swing her hips and throwing her hair. Her style was like an old form of belly dancing. She was good. That was her trade. I was dazzled, just watching her. Her skirt flared up and out like a flower. I clapped my hands. It was fun I enjoyed watching her. Afterwards she settled down and we sat around the fire and just talked.

The next day she made me go into town with her. Explaining there were a few things she need, but first needed to make some money. So when we got there she found a musician and managed to convince him to play for her, so she could dance. He agreed on terms that they would split the profits. I stayed out of sight. Neither of us knew any magic to conceal my horns or my ears. She had tried to wrap my head up in a turban to hide them, but it was no use. So it was just her and the musician out on the street, and he knew about me so I didn't have to worry about him trying to rob her.

With that she spent half the day twirling around and winking at the passer bys for coins and sure enough she made enough money to get what she wanted even after sharing half with the musician, who was quite happy with the proceeds. We did this for the next several days. Made some good money, she would gather a fairly large crowd. She was good at pulling people in and getting men to drop their coins to see more.

By the time she was through she had earned enough money to buy some new clothes, a nice pare of sandals and accessories for her dancing, food and a deer skin pouch for water. After she attained all that we left and headed back into the wilderness."

"How long did you travel together?" Sesshomaru felt the need to ask.

Yomi had to think, "Just less than a year I think. Not too long, but long enough."

"So what happened?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Things carried on like this for a while. We would cross the lands, keeping to the countryside entering cities in the human world just so she could restock on whatever she required. She would dance, never failing to find someone willing to play for her. With a demon like myself in the shadows watching out for her she had little to worry about. It is what she had intended from the beginning, to involve me as her protector while she worked her way around, getting through life in her way.

This went on for about a month until one night we get to talking and she asked me a personal question. It was after she had taken a bath in a lake where we had set up camp. I merely sat by while she stripped down nude, then went and wadded in the water. Scrubbing up with the new soap she bought from a market we last visited. I just sat by watching as she went washed her hair, soaped up her body, and then went for a little swim to rinse off.

To me it was just normal activity. It had been a while since she had last had the chance to have a good soak. She would always take the time to clean herself up in a pot or such, at night or before each performance or she would go down to the bathing pool if there was a public one in any of the towns we entered, but she never stayed long enough to truly soak. This time she stayed in the water for a good hour before getting out to dry herself off with a shawl right in front of me.

And she knew I was watching her, it seemed it didn't bother her."

"Maybe she wanted you to watch her." Sesshomaru grunted.

"Could be," Yomi replied, "she wasn't shy about revealing herself. And I wasn't shy about looking. The thing is with me, when I looked at her I saw a woman that very closely resembled the only other women I've ever saw, nude, my mother. She didn't look anything like her in the face, but you have to realize that until the day I escaped from the village I was still at my mother's breasts. I'm a predator, and living in the environment I was when there's nothing I needed the nourishment. She had nothing else to give me. Eating bread and grains didn't cut it. I would die if that's all I got. A normal Seirim can live that way, but not me, I'm only half Seirim the other half requires a whole not more to be sustained. So breasts to me weren't objects of sexual interest and neither was hair. Anyway in my culture a Seirim doesn't become sexually active until they are at least 700 to 800 years old on average. This was normal. So when I saw her and watched her I just saw a person taking care of herself like she should. I felt no sexual urges.

That night, as she brushed her hair she asked me if I were a virgin. I didn't know what that word meant so I asked her to explain it, and of course she laughed at me. But I just stared at her, completely serious. She realized I really was a virgin. She asked me how old I was, I told her about 20. She explained that most humans usually lose their virginity by then, but then she went on to say that I wasn't too old to be a virgin, but that it's obvious I haven't been around many women.

That night was when everything changed. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Draped in just a shawl, her hair wet and dangling over her. She got up and came over to me. Honestly I wasn't fazed by this nude woman kneeling beside me, not at first. That was until she spoke, "It doesn't bother you to see me like this. Are all demons always such gentlemen?" She said the latter part in jest, again poking fun at me, at my innocence." Yomi let out a faint laugh, unable to help from laughing at himself, then continued, "Or is it you just don't know any better." She said to me still laughing. Then she took my hand held it up before her, "You are just like a big kid aren't you." Brought it up to her lips and began to nibble on the tip of my finger. She just did it lightly, tantalizing. My body shuttered at the light touch. It was a new feeling. Then she brought it down and placed it on her breasts.

Now this was definitely new to me, very different from what I remembered. It was soft, warm. I could feel her nipple beneath the palm of my hand, hardened from the water still on her flesh and the chill on the air. Night had set in, but it was summer so it wasn't too cold, and she was hardy so it didn't faze her. She simply knelt there beside me, holding my hand to her breasts for a moment longer before removing it to reach up and touch me on the side of the face, following my arm all the way up to my cheek. She got up on her knees. Her shawl fell from her shoulders and she put her arms around me.

"Feel anything now?" she asked.

"Did you?" Sesshomaru asked almost not wanting to hear the answer, giving a disapproving glare.

"She kissed me." Was Yomi's response, "what do you think I felt? Customs and nature aside, when a nude and beautiful women does something like that you don't go on thinking about the weather. I was innocent, I was young, but I was also a man physically the same as I am now, of course I took her. She invited it. And I gave in more than willfully. She was a good instructor, very experienced.

She taught me a lot that first night, like how to please a woman, and things about my own body that I didn't even know. How she enjoyed discovering them. I was enamored, lost in her warmth, her playfulness, the way she would tease me, poking fun at my nearly boyish innocence. The best part was when she was on top of me and I had not just her but the stars and the moon above me, and I could swear I thought they were smiling upon me.

I remembered how much I enjoyed watching her dance, well I enjoyed it even more when she did it on top of me, her body hugging and loving my most tender flesh. She kept going at it till I could handle it no more. She was enamored. I loved her voice especially in the way she would sing as she breathed. She didn't moan like most women it's more like she'd be in song only there were no words, just her voice.

That night we lay together. She ran her fingers through my hair and toyed with my horns, till we both fell asleep. That was the start of it. Once she and I became intimate our travels were different. I became much more protective over her, but not just that I became possessive. I saw her as a wife, and didn't like other men looking at her. Before it didn't bother me, because she was just a companion, but thereafter jealousy began to set in and I would get easily upset over little things, like a man coming up and speaking to her for instance. I'd have the burning urge to tear his face off.

She notice, but never said anything. I think she expected it, to the least she understood. I was no longer an innocent boy now that I had a woman to look after. It really is a different feeling before and after that first experience especially if it's someone you take responsibility for. Some men can have experiences and just get up and walk away like they owned the situation, and could drop it whenever they like, but I couldn't. Once I took her she was mine, she belonged to me, and I was responsible.

I didn't like going into the cities anymore, instead I hunted. On occasion I would sneak off to hunt for myself and nab a farmer or a soldier I'd catch down the road, finish them off in the dark before returning to her. She never asked me where I would go, nor comment about never seeing me eat, that I had yet to eat in front of her, probably because she knew what I was doing while also knowing it was necessary.

Hunting game prey was a new thing to me, easy though. It kind of reminded me of my boyhood when I would hunt for lizards in the valley next to my home village. For her I would catch a hare or a small deer skin it and she would cook the thing over the fire. Next I went in search for a place to call shelter in the place of a house because I hadn't the skills to build one. So I thought I'd just find something that already existed and nestle into that. I know I didn't want to be traveling around anymore. I'm a goat we like to settle down, actually the thought occurred to me that I should bring her home to my home village where the family was, but that was just instinct, not my sense talking.

It would have been a disaster beyond belief if I gone home and showed up out of the blue with a human my side calling her my wife. I think mother would probably have a heart attack, for not only was I banished from the village for committing sacrilege to what was most sacred there I would turn up with a human, another forbidden act. Already the sins were building up in my life. We would have been run out of town and disowned for sure.

Even with Shari with me I didn't know what the big deal was about taking a human for a wife. She was a woman, and she didn't act like anything other than that. She never complained or commented about my demon heritage. She never called me evil. As I said she never asked me about how I fed. She asked me one time if I killed people then laughed when she guessed correctly, giving me the impression that she really didn't care.

She wasn't an innocent good doing human. If she needed to kill to get what she wanted I'd be more than willing to bet that is exactly what she would do. She wasn't beyond stealing to. I've noticed her take a few things from the markets we visited before while she spent the money she earned with her dancing. So she wasn't always a nice girl, but perfect for life with me.

At least that's how I saw it. That was until she became pregnant.

My life was about to take another turn for the profound, it was three months into our relationship when she told me. I still hadn't found a suitable place to shelter us and was still looking. "I'm pregnant… I'm carrying your child," she told me. It took a while for it to set in but when it did, I felt a dark haze come over me.

Things were happening too fast. I felt dizzy, and maybe a little overwhelmed. I took to her well enough, but now there would be a baby involved, a child I would be responsible for… it was too soon for me. I could be a lover but a family man that I don't know about. I didn't know what intimidated me about it, maybe I just didn't like the idea of there being other demons like myself out there and someone I'd be hard up to kill."

"Kill," Sesshomaru questioned, "you saying you would kill a child, your own blood?"

"I'm saying it's not something I would look forward to. Fatherhood is not for me. I'm a loner in that aspect. I don't get along well with children; I just feel they aren't my responsibility."

"Not a good attitude to have if you intend to become a ruler."

"I can deal with adults, and they manage their own children. When Shari told me she was pregnant I shuttered, and it wasn't the same kind of shutter I felt when she bit my finger. This was an objection, something cold and harsh shot through me. I don't know if it was fear or anger maybe a combination of both, but I know I didn't like it."

"Was it because of the mixture of blood, the child being a hanyou?" Sesshomaru queried.

"No, I doubt that was it. Like I've said I didn't have any problem with her being human. I didn't. I think I cared even less that the child she was carrying was human or half human. I just didn't understand the difference. So it wasn't that, it was… I don't know, cold feet, probably.

I don't know something came over me. I went off into the desert and just started flailing my arms and crying out. I don't even know what I was saying, but it took a lot out of me. The next thing I knew I collapsed in the sand, soon after she came wondering up to me, carrying her water skin, saying, "I could chase the child away with poison if you want, should it be a problem." I think I was in tears, I don't know why.

I just remember telling her "No." I didn't like the idea of there being a child, but I like the idea of her '_chasing'_ it away even less. So I didn't encourage it. Maybe I was hoping she'd have a miscarriage, not exactly very nice, but I was in no mind. I think I even threw up.

Once I managed to pull myself together I found a cottage, there was one person living in it, but I didn't care. I killed whoever it was, threw away the body. I didn't even bother eating it and settled in. Shari made herself right at home. We were going to stay there till the baby was born, then like a true family move out for a place of our own. I said I would learn how to build a house and build one for us in a better location, but that would never come.

Somehow I think my fears were realized on the day of my son's birth. Shari died one hour after he first drew breath. He was a large child so it seems he was a bit too much for her. She bled to death internally. I watched the light go out of her eyes, and heard her heart stop. I went numb. I had all these plans. I was going to do all these things, she was my motivation, the source of inspiration from which I did anything, and then she was gone. Because of that child she was gone!

But I couldn't blame the child, I wanted to, but I wasn't that cold hearted. It was just this tiny creature, large for her but small to me. The next thing I knew I was alone with it. This small and wet flailing creature that made the strangest noise, a noise that to this day makes my toes curl, a sound that I just can't stand, and never could, the sound of a baby crying. It gets up my ears and makes me want to tear them off.

Not a good thing when you can hear for miles around. In my country women are encouraged to keep their infants and their small children indoors, so the sound from them wouldn't disturb me while I held court, slept or sat in meditation. It wasn't a rule; it was just something considered considerate in my regard.

Nonetheless there I was stuck with this infant child. I buried Shari somewhere in the ground where the cottage was. I don't remember where it was. If I were to go back I doubt I could find it. If the cottage is even still there, it's been 800 years so I doubt a shack of feeble mud bricks would have held out.

Anyway as I planned I wrapped the child up in a blanket Shari had prepared for him and left. Only I had no idea where I was going or what to do. All I knew was I found myself on the road with this child and I was just walking. All my plans were shot. I lost view of everything and couldn't even see strait. I couldn't believe she was gone, and I had no idea what to do with this infant. I was his father. I was responsible for him, but I was dull and just stupid when it came to him. I didn't know what his cries meant, how I should even been carrying him, did I have him wrapped up in that blanket too tight? I didn't know.

The only thing I could think of was who did? At this point I felt I had no choice but to go back, so I made the decision to go home. I thought mother would know what to do with him. She took care of me and my brother Ishmar since his mother rejected him. So I began on the long trek of returning to Djudea, carrying the child with me, no food, no water just days on end of traveling under the hot sun, in the cold of night. None stop.

I just wanted to get there for the child's sake. I moved as fast as I could, stopping seldom for one reason or another. A trying effort so it wasn't a surprise that before I made it half way I gradually came aware the child I was carrying wasn't moving and that it hadn't made a sound for while. At first I thought he was just asleep. But then when I couldn't sense anything I stopped moving. I just knew. I unfolded the blankets to discover the child had died, and seems to have been dead for a while because his flesh was already growing cold. He was a hanyou; he was half demon, still I guess it was too much for him to be without food or water for so long. He had no nurturance. His mother had died before she could feed him and he was left with a grown man that had no mind of dealing with this type of thing. A man that could do certain things better than anyone else, but when it came to something like fatherhood he's a complete failure.

I just couldn't do anything. I failed him. So he left that's how I look at it. After he died only then did I realize how much he looked like me, only he had Shari's wavy hair and her eyes, but my color skin, ears and horns. A hansom demon he would have been, competition in the demon's world for sure.

I didn't cry over it, but I wasn't happy about it. I couldn't remember the way back to Shari's grave so I buried the child where I was and moved on. I was depressed for some time afterwards, but got over it as time passed. Not long afterwards I met these demons that would become my friends for the time. I approached them the way Shari had approached me and once we were acquainted we discovered that we got alone. They were just average demons, just guys out having some fun. We went to bars, got drunk and caused mischief. I became the ring leader, the boss of a little gang. I taught them to eat human, and we did a lot. It was with them that I discovered how social I am, having friends is what I needed. They helped me move on. Not long after I me them we heard of the Silver Fox Gang, and met Kurama. I joined them and my story goes on from there. Life carried on."

Sesshomaru didn't say anything. As Yomi's words quieted, he let the silence set in to ease the mood a bit. Yomi seemed to be doing the same, his story and those old memories seemed to have had more an effect on him than he thought, and he wondered if he had said too much. Maybe just saying he had made the same mistake as the Taisho would have been enough. But it was too late for silence. He spilled it, told it all, now he had yet to hear Sesshomaru impression. What would he think of him now that he knew this?

He waited for his response.

After a little while he got it. "So did you love her?" they had come upon a precipice over the shoreline. It was the highest point along the mountain trail. There were no towering rocks and the sea was far below still crashing loudly. The fog had begun to lift so the night seemed even darker than it had been, when he asked this. Sesshomaru stood at the precipice facing Yomi, his eyes angled coldly in his direction.

Yomi needn't time to think, "No," he said bluntly, "it was just a fling."

"Sound like it was more than just a fling if you called her your wife," said Sesshomaru disbelievingly.

"To me now that's the way I look at it. It's just a reference I used to refer to the relationship I had with her back then. I was just being simple minded."

"You lie," Sesshomaru said straight out, "Anyway that's all it takes. Many demon races don't even bother with ceremonies for marriage and just consider copulation the act that binds them, like it is in my family. Let me ask you this, Yomi, if you were to see her again now, what would you do? Would you go after her?"

Yomi answered without a moment's thought, "No. It's a thing of the past and that's where I intend on keeping it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. I wish it never happened. I wish I could go back and change it. I wish I never touched her… that I never met her. I wish I could say I was ignorant of all this, but from the voice of experience I can honestly say humans are nothing, but trouble."

"No, Yomi…" Sesshomaru grinned, then said, "Women are nothing, but trouble."

Yomi stepped forward. Then taking Sesshomaru by the hand, and lifting it up to his lips, kissed him lightly upon the knuckles, "I stand corrected," he responded, while gently smiling back.

End.

22


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